


Custody

by PaxDuane



Series: By Writ and Lips [8]
Category: Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Dissociation, Dogma-centric, Fives's Foot In Mouth Syndrome, Gen, Panic Attacks, Platonic Relationships, Priest AU, Tup punches someone in the face, clone culture, don't insult the scounts, it's Fives, kind of, squad assignments
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-11
Updated: 2020-07-11
Packaged: 2021-03-05 05:35:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 951
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25209334
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PaxDuane/pseuds/PaxDuane
Summary: When the last of their original squad is sent outside of Torrent, Tup is looking for a new space. Dogma's already ensconced with the scouts, but Domino wants both of them. And it looks like Fives is willing to take it up with Jesse. But even battles with words don't leave everyone unscathed.
Relationships: CT-5597 | Jesse/CT-6116 | Kix, Dogma & CT-5385 | Tup, Dogma (Star Wars) & CT-5597 | Jesse, mentioned
Series: By Writ and Lips [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1805827
Comments: 14
Kudos: 82





	Custody

**Author's Note:**

> I messed up Tup and Dogma's batchnumbers earlier in the series so for this AU the three and the eight are switched. Thus, the 583s. Also, sorry this is a short one! It's as long as it needed to be, but I know I often post longer pieces than this. This is another story where you can tell I'm working off of Soft Wars characterization for certain characters. And then Tup punches Fives in the face.

Dogma slides his gaze over to Tup. Lieutenant Jesse and Corporal Fives are glaring at each other, feral grins spread across both men’s faces.

Tup is already look at him, giddy panic in his eyes.

“Are they fighting over _us_?” Tup hisses into his ear.

“Seems so,” Dogma says, looking back at the two officers.

“They’re practically twins, Jesse,” Corporal Fives wheedles. “We should have both of them!”

Jesse shakes his head. “Then you should have been faster, di’kut. You didn’t complain when I poached Dogma from his old squad, didn’t bring this up at all until the Captain decided to reassign the other two outside of Torrent instead of transferring someone in.” Jesse has the better claim, that’s why Fives has come to him instead of the Captain. Because even Fives knows that he won’t get anywhere like that.

The other two were the only other batchmates Dogma and Tup had in Torrent. Now they were spread out, leaving just Dogma in Jesse’s scout squad and Tup in freefall. Of course Domino wanted them, all five of them had taken to doting on the 583s since even before the mission with General Fisto.

Hod Ha’ran settles in beside Dogma, bang-corn in hand, and starts eating. He’s become a more settled, familiar presence and, though he’s quiet now, he has opinions. Those opinions are that Fives and the rest of Domino aren’t nearly subtle enough for Dogma unless Dogma’s leading them like a blunt weapon.

“He’ll be better suited with his vod in Domino,” Fives snaps.

Hod pauses in eating his snack. Oh this isn’t good.

“He’s useless in scouting,” Fives finishes.

Jesse’s smile drops. Dogma’s heart is ripped out. Tup’s eyes are moons.

It all happens at once—Jesse turning on his heel and snapping Dogma up under his arm, Tup lunging and slamming their fist right at Fives’s eye where it’ll show, Dogma feeling like he’s stepped into space besides Ka’ra Buir but the deity has left him dropping through the abyss.

Dogma doesn’t come back from the space between the stars for a while. When he does, he’s in the scout office, on Jesse’s “It’s not a sign of me overworking if I only use this for naps instead of sleep” cot, with Jesse and two of the other scouts around him. Hod is nowhere to be seen, which does not bode well for Fives’s sanity in the coming weeks.

Jesse is holding on to his hands. “Hey, vod’ika, you back with us?” he asks, too concerned to bother obfuscating it for his damnable reputation.

Dogma doesn’t even try to say anything, but his voice still cracks.

Jesse pulls him close. “Hey, hey. Fives is an idiot; he couldn’t scout to save his life. I’m ordering you, Dogma, you do _not_ listen to him. If I have anything to say about it, you won’t be working near him for at least a month and for sure I’m going toss him across the room next time we spar. I don’t care how much he wants a matching karking set, he does not get to say shit like that. Not only is it a shitty thing to say in general, it’s also banthashit. You’re brilliant, always noticing everything. So, so clever. You could make Rex promote you higher than me if you had the inclination to be that high ranked and set up the situation.”

Dogma chuckles wetly. “Tup’s not going with Domino, are they?”

“Nope,” Jesse says, quiet.

Prowl, one of the other scouts, flops down on Dogma’s other side. “Current lines of thought are leaning towards Hardcase or directly under the Captain, but a few others are making grabs now that one of Domino’s leads karked up.”

Sail, the other scout in there with them, drapes herself across Jesse’s desk chair. “Corporal Echo is out for his brother’s _blood_.” She grins with her painted teeth, red when they were blue this morning. Apparently, he dissociated long enough for her to change the paint. He gets the feeling they’ve been planning a prank war, too.

“Any word from the Captain?” Jesse asks, tugging Dogma down to tuck his head under his chin.

Dogma goes along numbly.

“Heard him tell our sexy scary CMO to make the treatment hurt,” Prowl says cheerfully, like he’s not going to get the next shit assignment again for referring to their LT’s riduur like that.

Jesse makes the nearly silent clicking noise in his cheek that means he is making a note of Prowl’s reference. “Anything else?”

“Heard rumor of a demotion,” Sail offers.

Sergeant Vire, Jesse’s second, comes striding in. “So, Tup is getting a commendation for socking Fives.”

Chaos breaks in the office.

Dogma feels warm, with these people who fight with him, _for_ him, with teeth in their words. Tup has always been one more for fists, and Dogma for words, so none of his batchmates ever fought for him in his own language. Alpha and 32 did sometimes, and Jango is the one who taught him to, and Ta’ak Rei made every Kaminiise who took a disliking to him want to go back under the water. But never anyone on his level—not batchmates or squadmates or the CTs above or below him. Just two ori’vode, Jan’buir, and the most present ba’vodu.

But now he has it in four other vode—more if he counts the Captain who delights in the shit he pulls on Jesse and Commander Cody who won’t let _any_ nat’born hurt any of the vode.

Hod slips back into his sight, smiling with his helmet off. It may have taken seven more growth cycles, but Dogma’s life is coming back together. It’s going to be okay.

**Author's Note:**

> If it makes up for this...Dogma's already in kind of an unbalanced place at this point (timeline wise) of the series. It happens after the Nautolan temple but before any of the Kix stuff. And then the next story is further up in the timeline and has Dogma kicking ass. So uh. Growth!


End file.
